View source for Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos

{{Short description|1972–1981 period in the Philippines}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use Philippine English|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Marcos Declares Martial Law.jpg|thumb|The Sunday edition of the ''[[Philippines Daily Express]]''
on September 24, 1972, was the only newspaper published after the announcement of martial law on September 23, the evening prior<!-- September 21 was the date of the proclamation, but the announcement and actual implementation were made only on the 23rd -->
]]
{{Ferdinand Marcos sidebar}}
At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President [[Ferdinand Marcos]] announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under [[martial law]],<ref name="OfficialGazetteDeclaration" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ocampo|first=Ambeth|title=Looking Back 15: Martial Law|publisher=Anvil Publishing, Inc.|year=2021|isbn=978-971-27-3637-7|location=[[Mandaluyong]], Philippines}}</ref> stating he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] (CPP), and the sectarian "rebellion" of the [[Muslim Independence Movement]] (MIM). Opposition figures of the time (such as [[Lorenzo Tañada]], [[Jose W. Diokno]], and [[Jovito Salonga]]) accused Marcos of exaggerating these threats and using them as an excuse to consolidate power and extend his tenure beyond the two presidential terms allowed by the 1935 constitution.<ref name="official gazette">{{Cite web|title=Declaration of Martial Law|url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/}}</ref> Marcos signed [[Proclamation No. 1081]] on September 21, 1972, marking the beginning of a fourteen-year period of [[Dictatorship|one-man rule]], which effectively lasted until Marcos was [[Ferdinand Marcos#Exile in Hawaii (1986-1989)|exiled]] from the country on February 25, 1986.<ref name="Tadem2015MartialLawDevelopmentParadigms">{{Cite journal |last=Tadem |first=Eduardo Climaco |date=2015-07-03 |title=Technocracy and the Peasantry: Martial Law Development Paradigms and Philippine Agrarian Reform |journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=394–418 |doi=10.1080/00472336.2014.983538 |s2cid=154354138 |issn=0047-2336}}</ref><ref name="Tolosa2015Blurg">{{Cite journal |last=Tolosa |first=Benjamin |date=2011-01-01 |title=Publication -- Filipino Social Democracy: Origins and Characteristics, Lessons and Challenges |url=https://archium.ateneo.edu/polsci-faculty-pubs/25 |access-date=2020-08-31 |journal=Political Science Department Faculty Publications}}</ref> Proclamation No. 1081 was formally lifted on January 17, 1981, although Marcos retained essentially all of his powers as [[dictator]] until he was [[People Power Revolution|ousted in February 1986]].<ref name="KaiFrancisco20160922"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Fall of the Dictatorship|url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/the-fall-of-the-dictatorship/|access-date=2021-09-18|website=[[Official Gazette (Philippines)]]|language=en-US}}</ref>
This nine-year period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of [[Human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship|human rights abuses]],<ref name="McCoy199909202"/><ref name="Abinales&Amoroso20052">{{Cite book|title=State and society in the Philippines|last=N.|first=Abinales, P.|date=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-0-7425-1023-4|location=Lanham, MD|oclc=57452454}}</ref> particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.<ref name="Rappler">{{Cite news|url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/182828-marcos-dictatorship-martial-law-youth-leaders-killed|title=Gone too soon: 7 youth leaders killed under Martial Law|work=Rappler|access-date=June 15, 2018}}</ref> Based on the documentation of [[Amnesty International]], [[Task Force Detainees of the Philippines]], and similar human rights monitoring entities,<ref name="RachelAGReyes201604122">{{Cite web |date=April 12, 2016 |title=3,257: Fact checking the Marcos killings, 1975–1985 – The Manila Times Online |url=http://www.manilatimes.net/3257-fact-checking-the-marcos-killings-1975-1985/255735/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412150835/http://www.manilatimes.net/3257-fact-checking-the-marcos-killings-1975-1985/255735/ |archive-date=2016-04-12 |access-date=June 15, 2018 |website=www.manilatimes.net}}</ref> historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known [[extrajudicial killing]]s, 35,000 documented tortures, 737 "disappeared", and 70,000 incarcerations.<ref name="RachelAGReyes201604122" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite report |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/019/1977/en/ |title=Report of an Amnesty International Mission to the Republic of the Philippines, 22 November - 5 December 1975 |date=September 1, 1976 |isbn=0900058366 |lccn=77373247}}</ref>{{Rp|page=4}}<ref name="Robles2016">{{Cite book |last=Robles |first=Raissa |title=Marcos Martial Law: Never Again |publisher=Filipinos for a Better Philippines, Inc. |year=2016 }}</ref>{{rp||page=16}} After Marcos was ousted, government investigators discovered that the declaration of martial law had also allowed the Marcoses to hide secret stashes of [[Unexplained wealth of the Marcos family|unexplained wealth]] that various courts<ref name="KaiFrancisco20160922"/> later determined to be "of criminal origin".<ref name="NikdeYnchausti20160924">{{Cite magazine |last=de Ynchausti |first=Nik |date=September 24, 2016 |title=The tallies of Martial Law |url=https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/martial-law-tallies-a1576-20160924-lfrm4 |url-status=live |magazine=Esquire Magazine Philippines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928065322/https://www.esquiremag.ph/politics/martial-law-tallies-a1576-20160924-lfrm4 |archive-date=September 28, 2016 |access-date=June 27, 2018}}</ref>
While Marcos's presidency began [[First term of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos|in late 1965]],<ref name="Santos&Pinlac20070901">{{cite web|url=http://cmfr-phil.org/media-ethics-responsibility/ethics/back-to-the-past-a-timeline-of-press-freedom/|title=Back to the Past: A timeline of press freedom|date=Sep 1, 2007|website=[[Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility|CMFR]]|access-date=March 2, 2018}}</ref> this article is limited to the period in which he exercised dictatorial powers under martial law,<ref name="OfficialGazetteDeclaration">{{cite web|title=Declaration of Martial Law|url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/|website=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines}}</ref> and the period where he continued to wield those powers despite lifting the proclamation in 1981.<ref name="OfficialGazetteFall">{{cite web |url=http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/the-fall-of-the-dictatorship/ |title=The Fall of the Dictatorship |website=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903153904/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/the-fall-of-the-dictatorship/ |archive-date=September 3, 2017  |access-date=September 9, 2018 }}</ref><ref name="news.google.com">{{Cite web|title=The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-f5jAAAAIBAJ&pg=6750,5935273|access-date=2020-09-22|website=news.google.com}}</ref>
==Administration and cabinet==
{{Main|List of cabinets of the Philippines#Martial law period until 1986}}
== Explanations for the declaration of martial law==
Numerous explanations have been put forward as reasons for Marcos to declare martial law in September 1972, some of which were presented by the Marcos administration as official justifications, and some of which were dissenting perspectives put forward by either the mainstream political opposition or by analysts studying the political economy of the decision.<ref name="Brillantes1987">{{Cite book |title=Dictatorship & martial law: Philippine authoritarianism in 1972 |last=Brillantes |first=Alex B. Jr. |date=1987 |publisher=[[University of the Philippines Diliman]] [[UP National College of Public Administration and Governance|School of Public Administration]] |isbn=978-971-8567-01-2 |location=Quezon City, Philippines}}</ref>
=== Official justifications ===
In his 1987 treatise, ''Dictatorship & Martial Law: Philippine Authoritarianism in 1972'', [[University of the Philippines]] public administration professor Alex Brillantes Jr. identifies three reasons expressed by the Marcos administration, saying that martial law:<ref name="Brillantes1987"/>
* was a response to various leftist and rightist plots against the Marcos administration;
* was just the consequence of political decay after American-style democracy failed to take root in Philippine society; and
* was a reflection of Filipino society's history of authoritarianism and supposed need for iron-fisted leadership.
The first two justifications were explicitly stated in Proclamation 1081, which cited two explicit justifications: "to save the republic" (from various plots); and "to reform society" (after the failure of American-style democracy).<ref name="Brillantes1987"/> The third rationalization arose from the administration's propaganda, which portrayed Marcos as a hypermasculine or ultranationalist figure able to compel the obedience of supposedly "spoiled" Filipinos.<ref name="Brillantes1987"/>
=== Dissenting perspectives ===
==== Political mainstream ====
Opposition to Marcos's declaration of martial law ran the whole gamut of Philippine society – ranging from impoverished peasants whom the administration tried to chase out of their homes; to the Philippines' political old-guard, whom Marcos had tried to displace from power; to academics and economists who disagreed with the specifics of Marcos's martial law policies. All of these, regardless of their social position or policy beliefs, subscribed to the interpretation that Marcos declared martial law:<ref name="Brillantes1987"/>
* as a strategy to enable Ferdinand Marcos to stay in power past the two Presidential terms allowed him under Philippine Constitution of 1935; and
* as a technique for covering up the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos, his family, and his cronies.
==== Economic interpretations ====
In addition, some critics who ascribe an economic component to Marcos's motivations,<ref name="Brillantes1987"/> suggesting that martial law:
* was an acquiescence to the global market system, which required tight control of sociopolitical systems so that the country's resources could be exploited efficiently;
* was a product of the infighting among the families that formed the upper socioeconomic class of Philippine society; and
* was a connivance between the state powers and the upper-class families to keep the members of the country's lower classes from becoming too powerful.
== Planning and preparation for martial law ==
[[File:Martiallawjf9906 09.JPG|thumb|Martial Law monument in [[Mehan Garden]]]]
Although Marcos initially claimed that he had declared martial law in response to violent acts that took place in 1971–72 – such as the [[Plaza Miranda]] bombing and the alleged assassination attempt on Defense Secretary Enrile – the groundwork for its implementation had been laid down much earlier. Marcos's aide-turned whistleblower [[Primitivo Mijares]] noted that "The beginning infrastructure for martial law was actually laid down as early as the first day of his assumption of the Philippine presidency on December 30, 1965."
Most notably, by the time Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, he had:
* assured the loyalty of state institutions – especially the [[Armed Forces of the Philippines|Armed Forces]] – to himself;<ref name="Kasaysayan9ch10"/><ref name="DavideCommission1990"/>
* appointed 8 out of 11 justices of the Philippines' [[Supreme Court of the Philippines|Supreme Court]];<ref name="Celoza1997"/>
* gained the support of the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] administration;<ref name="NixonByroade1971"/> and
* carefully crafted a [[public relations]] environment that ensured that the majority of Filipino citizens would at least initially accept martial law.<ref name="KatePedroso160921">{{Cite book |url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/817651/september-1972-recalling-the-last-days-and-hours-of-democracy |title=September 1972: Recalling the last days and hours of democracy |last=Generalao |first=Kate Pedroso, Minerva |date=September 21, 2016 }}</ref>
=== Controlling the armed forces and police ===
==== Defense secretary portfolio====
Marcos began increasing his influence over the armed forces of the Philippines as soon as he became president in 1965 by following President [[Ramon Magsaysay]]'s precedent of concurrently hold the portfolio of defense secretary in the first thirteen months of his presidency.<ref name="Kasaysayan9ch10"/> American defense analyst Donald Berlin notes that this gave Marcos an opportunity for direct interaction with the AFP's leaders, and a hand in the military's day-to-day operationalization.<ref name="Berlin1982">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5z01nwEACAAJ |title=Prelude to Martial Law: An Examination of Pre-1972 Philippine Civil-military Relations |last=Berlin |first=Donald Lane |date=1982 }}</ref> Singaporean author and political science professor Terence Lee notes that this had the effect of "develop[ing] a patronage system within the defense establishment."<ref name="Lee2015">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ob1TBgAAQBAJ&q=ilocanization+generals&pg=PA81 |title=Defect Or Defend: Military Responses to Popular Protests in Authoritarian Asia |last=Lee |first=Terence |date=January 2, 2015 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-1516-1 }}</ref> Professor Albert Celoza, in his 1997 book on the political economy of authoritarianism in the Philippines, notes that: "It was alleged that a plan of action had existed as early as 1965...no one opposed the plan because no one was certain that the plan would be carried out."<ref name="Celoza1997">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sp3U1oCNKlgC&q=celoza+sagittarius+soliman&pg=PA32 |title=Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: The Political Economy of Authoritarianism |last=Celoza |first=Albert F. |date=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-275-94137-6 }}</ref>{{rp|page=32}}
==== Armed Forces of the Philippines reshuffle ====
Marcos soon carried out the "largest reshuffle in the history of the armed forces" when he forcibly retired fourteen of the AFP's twenty-five flag officers, including the AFP Chief of Staff, the AFP Vice Chief of Staff, the commanding general of the Philippine Army, the Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, the commanders of all four Constabulary Zones, and one third of all Provincial Commanders of the PC.<ref name="DavideCommission1990">{{Cite periodical |last1=Davide |first1=Hilario G. Jr. |author-link=Hilario Davide Jr. |last2=Romulo |first2=Ricardo J. |last3=Legaspi |first3=Leonardo Z. |last4=Hernandez |first4=Carolina G. |last5=Lazaro |first5=Delfin L. |title=The Final Report of the Fact-Finding Commission: II: Political Change and Military Transmition in the Philippines, 1966 – 1989: From the Barracks to the Corridors of Power |url=http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1990/10/03/the-final-report-of-the-fact-finding-commission-ii-political-change-and-military-transmition-in-the-philippines-1966-1989-from-the-barracks-to-the-corridors-of-power/ |periodical=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |via=Republic of the Philippines National Government Portal (Gov.ph)}}</ref>
One prominent early example of an officer forced to resign his commission was Navy Commodore [[Ramon A. Alcaraz|Ramon Alcaraz]] – a World War II hero who would eventually be dubbed the "father of the Philippine Marines" and have a Philippine Navy ship named after him. Alcaraz was forced to resign from the Armed Forces because his success in the Navy's anti-smuggling operations had come into conflict with Marcos's accommodations with alleged "smuggler-king" Lino Bocalan.<ref name="Sidel1999">{{Cite book |title=Capital, Coercion, and Crime: Bossism in the Philippines |last=Sidel |first=John Thayer |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8047-3746-3 }}</ref>
In their place, Marcos appointed officers from his home region, the Ilocos, the most significant of whom had familial connections to Marcos – ensuring their familial and regionalistic loyalties to him. The practice was so pervasive that it quickly earned a moniker: "Ilocanization".<ref name="Berlin1982"/><ref name="Lee2015"/> The most important of these appointments included Juan Ponce Enrile as Secretary of Defense, and Fidel Ramos as Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff, who were both related to Marcos; and Fabian Ver, Marcos's townmate from Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, as Armed Forces Chief of Staff.
In tandem with this "Ilocanization", generals loyal to Marcos were allowed to stay in their positions past their supposed retirement age, or were rewarded with civilian government posts.<ref name="GovPh29thNinoyAnniv">{{cite web |url=http://president.gov.ph/gov_at_work/phl-marks-29th-anniversary-of-aquinos-assassination-on-tuesday/ |title=PHL marks 29th anniversary of Aquino's assassination on Tuesday |date=August 20, 2012 |publisher=Office of the President of the Philippines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208022821/http://president.gov.ph/gov_at_work/phl-marks-29th-anniversary-of-aquinos-assassination-on-tuesday/ |archive-date=February 8, 2016 }}</ref> This led to a loss of morale among the middle-ranks of the AFP, because it meant a significant slowdown in promotions and caused many officers to retire with ranks much lower than they would otherwise have earned.<ref name="Berlin1982"/><ref name="DavideCommission1990"/>
As a result, Security Affairs Professor Douglas J. Macdonald noted that "near the end of the dictatorship, the Military and the Intelligence organizations were badly polarized along generational lines, as they are today."
==== The "Oplan Sagittarius" expose====
{{see also|Marcos Soliman}}
When Marcos was ready to declare martial law, copies of the plan for its implementation were distributed to key officials within the Armed Forces. As a way of assuring that any whistleblowers would be easily accounted for, the copies of the plan were distributed with codeword titles taken from the signs of the Zodiac. The copy marked "Sagittarius" was given to General [[Marcos Soliman|Marcos "Mark" Soliman]] who commanded the [[National Intelligence Coordinating Agency]]. Thus, when Senator [[Benigno Aquino Jr.|Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.]] exposed the existence of "Oplan Sagittarius" a week before martial law was declared, other generals were able to deny that they had heard of any operation under the said code title, and it was easy for Marcos to pinpoint Soliman as the whistleblower who gave the information to Aquino.<ref name="Celoza1997"/>{{rp|page=32}}
Not long after the declaration of martial law, the controlled press reported that Soliman had died of a heart attack, but his family believed that Marcos had ordered that he be killed.<ref name="McDonald2009">{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zvGTOjWOID4C&q=general+marcos+soliman+heart+attack&pg=PA306 |title=Reforming Intelligence: Obstacles to Democratic Control and Effectiveness |editor-last=Bruneau |editor-first=Thomas C. |editor2-last=Boraz |editor2-first=Steven C. |date=April 20, 2009 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-78341-6 |last=MacDonald |first=Douglas J |pages=301–326 |chapter=Ethical and Moral Issues in Intelligence Reform:The Philippines}}</ref> Marcos then dissolved the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and put a powerful super-agency, the [[National Intelligence and Security Authority]] (NISA) in its place, with steadfast Marcos follower General [[Fabian Ver]] in command.<ref name="McDonald2009"/>{{rp|page=306}}
=== Ensuring political support from the United States government ===
{{see also|US Bases in the Philippines}}
By 1971, Marcos had reached out to US Ambassador to the Philippines Henry Byroade, with the question of whether the United States, then under the administration of President Richard Nixon, would support him should he choose to proclaim Martial Law. Byroade brought the matter up with Nixon in a conversation in January 1971. According to the US National Archives' copy of the Memorandum of Conversation between Nixon and Byroade:<ref name="NixonByroade1971"/> <blockquote>''The president declared that we would "absolutely" back Marcos up, and "to the hilt" so long as what he was doing was to preserve the system against those who would destroy it in the name of liberty. The President indicated that... we would not support anyone who was trying to set himself up as military dictator, but we would do everything we can to back a man who was trying to make the system work and to preserve order. Of course, we understood that Marcos would not be entirely motivated by national interests, but this was something which we had come to expect from Asian leaders.''<ref name="NixonByroade1971">{{cite web |url=http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v20/d233 |title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XX, Southeast Asia, 1969–1972 – Office of the Historian |website=history.state.gov |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027113045/http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v20/d233 |archive-date=October 27, 2009 |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2018}}</ref></blockquote>
Marcos informed the US Ambassador to the Philippines about his intent to declare Martial Law plan as early as September 17, 1972, just a few days before Martial Law was announced on September 23, 1972.
After Nixon, the Ford and Reagan administrations were similarly supportive of Marcos. While the [[Carter administration]] expressed diplomatic concerns over the [[human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship]], it could not totally withdraw its support from Marcos in light of US foreign policy's need to have the lease on the [[US Bases in the Philippines]] renewed by Marcos.<ref>Bonner, R. (1988). Waltzing with a Dictator: The Marcoses and the Making of American Policy. Vintage. ISBN 9780394758350</ref>
== The role of the Communist Party of the Philippines ==
{{main|Communism in the Philippines}}
Of the various threats cited in the Proclamation 1081 document as rationalizations for declaration of Martial Law, the most extensively described was the threat supposedly posed by Communist insurgents – specifically the newly formed [[Communist Party of the Philippines]], a [[Maoism|Maoist]] organization which had only recently broken off from the Marxist–Leninist [[Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930|Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas]].
=== The "Red Scare" in the Philippines and the Anti-Subversion Act ===
{{main|Red Scare|Anti-Subversion Act of 1957}}
When Marcos became president in 1965, Philippine policy and politics functioned under a Post-World War II geopolitical framework.<ref name="WorldBank">{{cite web |url=http://www.cadtm.org/The-World-Bank-and-the-Philippines |title=The World Bank and the Philippines |last=Toussaint |first=Eric |date=October 7, 2014 |website=www.cadtm.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091109191929/http://www.cadtm.org/The-World-Bank-and-the-Philippines |archive-date=November 9, 2009 |url-status=live |access-date=June 14, 2018}}</ref> After gaining independence from the US after the war, the Philippines had retained strong economic, political and military ties to the United States,<ref name="RDK-9-6">{{Cite book |title=Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People Volume 9:A Nation Reborn. |publisher=Asia Publishing Company Limited |year=1998 |editor-last=Magno |editor-first=Alexander R. |location=Hong Kong |chapter=Bandits, outlaws, and Robin Hoods}}</ref> manifested in a Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), Military Assistance Agreement (MAA), a US Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG), and the physical presence of several Military Bases where the US Military could conduct "''unhampered US military operations''" for 99 years (later reduced to 50).<ref name="INCITEGov">{{Cite book |title=Transformation: a security sector reform reader |last=Agustin |first=Carlos L., Commodore |date=2012 |publisher=International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance |isbn=978-971-93923-1-6 |location=Pasig, Philippines |chapter=A Brief Historical Overview of the Armed Forces of the Philippines |oclc=815836447}}</ref>
Filipino presidents were very politically dependent on American support, and this did not change until the end of the [[Cold War]] in 1989, and the termination of the 1947 US Military Bases Treaty, in 1992.<ref name="FormalDemoc">{{cite web |url=https://www.tni.org/es/node/7396 |title=Formal Democracy and its Alternatives in the Philippines |date=July 26, 2005 |website=Transnational Institute |language=es |access-date=June 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="reagan">{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/19/magazine/reagan-and-the-philippines-setting-marcos-adrift.html |title=REAGAN AND THE PHILIPPINES: Setting Marcos Adrift |last=Karnow |first=Stanley |magazine=The New York Times Magazine|date=March 19, 1989 }}</ref><ref name="Kate">{{Cite news |url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/146410-look-back-senate-no-us-base-renewal-1991 |title=Look Back: When the Senate Said 'No' To US Bases Renewal |last=Francisco |first=Katerina |date=September 16, 2016 }}</ref>
With its close ties to the US, the Philippines was ideologically caught up in the anticommunist scare perpetuated by the US during the Cold War.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sen |first=Rabindra |s2cid=157525312 |date=June 2005 |journal=Jadavpur Journal of International Relations |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=85–92 |doi=10.1177/0973598405110005 |issn=0973-5984|title=Philippines – U.S. Special Relationship: Cold War and Beyond }}</ref> The government was not yet strongly-established, and it was "fearful of being swept away by <nowiki>[communism]'s</nowiki> rising tide",<ref name="Ramos">{{cite web |url=http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1992/09/02/speech-of-president-ramos-at-the-signing-of-the-bill-repealing-the-anti-subversion-law/ |title=Speech of President Ramos at the Signing of the Bill repealing the Anti-Subversion Law |website=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |access-date=June 8, 2018}}</ref> so in 1957, it passed Republic Act (RA) No. 1700, known as the "''[[Anti-Subversion Act of 1957]]''", which made mere membership in any communist party illegal. The Philippines would take three and a half decades to repeal it, through Republic Act 7636, in 1992.<ref name="Ramos"/>
RA No. 1700 was originally meant to counter the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and its armed force, the [[Hukbalahap]] (also called the "Huks"). The campaign against the PKP and the Huks was bloody, but it had basically ended by 1954.<ref name="PKPhist">{{cite web | publisher = [[Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930]] | title = A Short History of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas | url = https://www.pkp1930.org/a-short-history-of-the-partido-komunista-ng-pilipinas.html | access-date = 5 November 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171107003814/https://www.pkp1930.org/a-short-history-of-the-partido-komunista-ng-pilipinas.html | archive-date = 7 November 2017  }}</ref> Throughout the 60s, the remnants of the PKP pursued "a course of peaceful action" while working to rebuild their organisation,<ref name="PKPhist"/> but, this was later challenged by a youth-based [[Maoism|Maoist]] group within the organization created by University Professor [[Jose Maria Sison]], who joined the PKP in 1962.<ref name="JomaCritique">{{cite web | author =Abinales, P.N. | title =Jose Maria Sison and the Philippine Revolution: A Critique of an Interface | publisher =[[University of the Philippines Diliman]] | date = n.d. | url =http://ovcrd.upd.edu.ph/ | format =PDF | access-date = November 6, 2017}}</ref> Clashing with the PKP party leaders' view that armed struggle was an exercise in futility, Sison and his group were expelled from the PKP in 1967, and on December 26, 1968 founded the [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] (CPP) along Maoist lines.<ref name="JomaCritique"/> While the PKP sought to marginalize this new group, it soon became the leading communist party in the Philippines.
=== Marcos and anti-communist rhetoric ===
When Marcos became president in 1965, the PKP was a weakened organization, and the [[Hukbalahap]] reduced to "what amounted to banditry."<ref name="Robles2016"/> But [[Ferdinand Marcos|Marcos]] immediately made noise about the supposed "communist threat" – drawing on images of the bloody Huk encounters of the 1950s, and courting the Johnson administration's political support in light of the U.S.' recent [[Joint warfare in South Vietnam, 1963–69|entry into the Vietnam war]].<ref name="Robles2016"/><ref name="Richburg&Branigin19890929"/>
Marcos continued using communism as a bogeyman after 1968, as the PKP faded into obscurity and the nascent CPP became more prominent. The Armed Forces of the Philippines did likewise in 1969, when the CPP allied with Huk commander [[Bernabe Buscayno]] to create the nascent [[New People's Army]]. Although the CPP-NPA was only a small force at the time, the AFP hyped up its formation,<ref name="RebellionRepressionPh">{{Cite book |title=Rebellion and repression in the Philippines |last=John) |first=Kessler, Richard J. (Richard |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-04406-5 |location=New Haven |oclc=19266663 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/rebellionrepress0000kess }}</ref>{{rp|page=43}} partly because doing so was good for building up the AFP budget.<ref name="RebellionRepressionPh" />{{rp|page=43}}<ref name="Robles2016"/> As a result, notes security specialist [http://csreports.aspeninstitute.org/Dialogue-on-Diplomacy-and-Technology/2014/participants/details/262/Richard-Kessler Richard J. Kessler], "the AFP mythologized the group, investing it with a revolutionary aura that only attracted more supporters."
Even in the days immediately before Marcos's declaration of Martial Law on September 23, 1972, the Philippine National Security Council did not consider the two communist movements to represent a sizeable threat. At around that time, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations received notice that as of September 19, 1972, the Philippine Council had set their threat assessment at "<nowiki>between 'normal' and 'Internal Defense Condition 1'</nowiki>" on a scale where 3 was the highest Defense condition.<ref name="PoliticalEconomy">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sp3U1oCNKlgC|title=Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: The Political Economy of Authoritarianism|last=Celoza|first=Albert F.|date=1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-94137-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Philippines reader: a history of colonialism, neocolonialism, dictatorship, and resistance |last=Schirmer |first=Daniel B. |date=1987 |publisher=South End Press |isbn=978-0-89608-276-2 |edition=1st |location=Boston |oclc=14214735 |url=https://archive.org/details/philippinesreade00schi }}</ref> In 1971, AFP Chief of Staff [[Manuel T. Yan]] had prominently told media that the grounds for Marcos to either impose of martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus did not exist.<ref name="Cortes2000">{{Cite book |last=Cortes |first=Rosario Mendoza |title=The Filipino saga: history as social change |date=2000 |publisher=New Day Publishers |isbn=971-10-1055-0 |location=Quezon City, Philippines |oclc=46643992}}</ref><ref name="TeodoroSr19720108">{{Cite news |last=Locsin |first=Teodoro M. Sr. |date=January 8, 1972 |title=No Thanks |work=The [[Philippines Free Press]]}}</ref> One of the generals serving under General Fabian Ver of the National Intelligence and Security Authority later recalled that "Even when Martial Law was declared, the communists were not a real threat. The military could handle them."<ref name="Robles2016"/>
=== Confirmed incidents ===
Despite historical consensus that the Marcos administration willfully exaggerated the capabilities and actions of the [[Communist Party of the Philippines]], a few of the incidents cited by [[Ferdinand Marcos|Marcos]] have been confirmed as genuine activities of the CPP. These included: the December 1970 raid on the [[Philippine Military Academy]]'s armory by defecting army officer [[Victor Corpus]]; and the [[MV Karagatan incident|July 1972 MV Karagatan incident]] in which a secret arms shipment from China, meant for Communist Party forces, sank just off Digoyo Point in Palanan, Isabela.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2003/05/10/205555/victor-corpus-now-general|title=Victor Corpus now a general |website=philstar.com|access-date=September 30, 2018}}</ref>
=== Disputed incidents ===
Numerous other incidents cited by [[Ferdinand Marcos|Marcos]] as rationalizations for his declaration of Martial Law have either been discredited or disputed, in light of Marcos's known tactic of undertaking [[false flag]] operations as a propaganda technique.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RmMCmvYBQtMC&q=marcos.+plaza+miranda&pg=PA280|title=International Handbook of Human Rights|last1=Donnelly|first1=Jack|last2=Howard-Hassmann|first2=Rhoda E.|date=1987|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-24788-0|pages=280–281}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_0TBwAAQBAJ&q=marcos.+plaza+miranda&pg=PT1225|title=World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era|last=Ciment|first=James|date=March 10, 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-45151-8}}</ref>
This includes: the August 1971 [[Plaza Miranda bombing]]; the [[1972 Manila bombings]] from March to September of that year; and the alleged September 1972 ambush of Defense Minister [[Juan Ponce Enrile]].<ref name="KatePedroso160921"/>
=== Radicalization of moderate activists ===
The social unrest of 1969 to 1970, and the violent dispersal of the resulting "[[First Quarter Storm]]" protests were among the early watershed events in which large numbers of Filipino students of the 1970s were radicalized against the Marcos administration. Due to these dispersals, many students who had previously held "moderate" positions (i.e., calling for legislative reforms) became convinced that they had no choice but to call for more radical social change.<ref name="Rodis">{{Cite news |url=https://globalnation.inquirer.net/118130/remembering-the-first-quarter-storm |title=Remembering the First Quarter Storm |last=Rodis |first=Rodel |newspaper=[[Philippine Daily Inquirer]] |access-date=January 27, 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150131131959/http://globalnation.inquirer.net/118130/remembering-the-first-quarter-storm/ |archive-date=January 31, 2015 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Lacaba 1982 11–45, 157–178">{{Cite book|title=Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage: The First Quarter Storm & Related Events|last=Lacaba|first=Jose F.|publisher=Salinlahi Pub. House|year=1982|location=Manila|pages=11–45, 157–178}}</ref>
Other watershed events that would later radicalize many otherwise "moderate" opposition members include the February 1971 [[Diliman Commune]]; the August 1971 suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the wake of the [[Plaza Miranda]] bombing; the September 1972 [[Proclamation No. 1081|declaration of Martial Law]]; the 1980 [[murder of Macli-ing Dulag]];<ref name="Aureus 1985">{{Cite book |title=The Philippine Press Under Siege II |year=1985 |editor-last=Aureus |editor-first=Leonor J.}}</ref> and the August 1983 [[assassination of Ninoy Aquino]].<ref name="GazetteHistoryProtest">{{Cite web |url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/edsa/the-ph-protest-appendix/ |title=A History of the Philippine Political Protest |website=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705180022/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/edsa/the-ph-protest-appendix/ |archive-date=July 5, 2017  |access-date=December 10, 2018}}</ref>
This radicalization led to a significant growth of the Communist Party of the Philippines under the Marcos administration.<ref name="GazetteHistoryProtest" /> Writer and peace advocate Gus Miclat cites the example of Mindanao: "''There was not one NPA cadre in Mindanao in 1972. Yes, there were activists, there were some firebrands... but there were no armed rebels then except for those that eventually formed the Moro National Liberation Front. When Marcos fled in 1986, the NPA was virtually in all Mindanao provinces, enjoying even a tacit alliance with the MNLF.''"<ref name="MiclatinArguillas2002">{{Cite book |contributor-last1=Miclat |contributor-first1=Gus |title=Turning Rage Into Courage: Mindanao under Martial Law, Vol. 1 |publisher=MindaNews Publications (Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center) |year=2002 |author-last=Arguillas |author-first=Carolyn O. |contribution=Our Lives Were Never The Same Again}}</ref>
== Signing of Proclamation No. 1081 ==
{{main|Proclamation No. 1081}}
Several conflicting accounts about exist regarding the exact date on which Marcos signed the physical Proclamation No. 1081 document, which placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law.<ref name="OfficialGazetteFall"/><ref name="OfficialGazetteDeclaration"/>
Whichever the case, the document was formally dated September 21 because of his superstitions and [[numerology|numerological]] beliefs concerning the number seven.<ref name="OfficialGazetteDeclaration"/> The Official Gazette of the republic of the Philippines, in a retrospective article on Marcos's proclamation of martial law, comments on the differences in the accounts:
<blockquote>"Whether they conflict or not, all accounts indicate that Marcos's obsession with numerology (particularly the number seven) necessitated that Proclamation No. 1081 be officially signed on a date that was divisible by seven. Thus, September 21, 1972 became the official date that martial law was established and the day that the Marcos dictatorship began. This also allowed Marcos to control history on his own terms."<ref name="OfficialGazetteDeclaration"/></blockquote>
==Announcement and implementation of martial law==
September 22, 1972, marked a brief period in which Proclamation No. 1081 was formally in place, but without the knowledge of the public. For most of the Philippines, therefore, martial law was thus properly implemented when it was announced on the evening of September 23, 1972.<ref name="OfficialGazetteDeclaration"/>
The implementation of martial law began sometime before midnight on September 22, with the arrest of the two main opposition leaders, Ninoy Aquino, who on September 21 held a Congress speech to denounce impending martial law, and Jose W. Diokno, who held a rally with 50,000 people from the [[Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties|Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL)]] at Plaza Miranda on the same day.<ref name="Daroy1988">{{Cite book |title=Dictatorship and Revolution: Roots of People's Power |last=Daroy |first=Petronilo Bn.  |publisher=Conspectus Foundation |year=1988 |editor-last=Javate-de Dios |editor-first=Aurora |editor2-last=Daroy |editor2-first=Petronilo Bn. |editor3-last= Kalaw-Tirol |editor3-first=Lorna |location=Metro Manila |pages=1–25 |chapter=On the Eve of Dictatorship and Revolution}}</ref> By dawn of the following day, many of the 400 individuals listed on the military's priority arrest list—journalists, members of the political opposition, constitutional convention delegates, outspoken lawyers, teachers, and students—had been detained.
Media outlets were shuttered, although those linked with Marcos crony [[Roberto Benedicto]] were allowed to reopen within the day. Soon after, Congress was abolished, mass activities were prohibited, political parties were outlawed, a curfew was put in place, and civil and political rights were suspended.
=== First wave of arrests ===
The first wave of arrests under Marcos's declaration of martial law began with the arrest of Senator [[Benigno Aquino Jr.]] late in the evening of September 22, during a late meeting of the Joint Congressional Committee on Tariff Reforms at the Manila Hilton Hotel. Aquino was one of Marcos's most prominent critics, and had exposed the plan to proclaim martial law in a speech in the Philippine Senate the week before.
[[Juan Ponce Enrile]] would later acknowledge that the first wave of arrests focused on political figures and journalists "in the initial stages, we must emasculate all the leaders in order to control the situation."<ref name="PaoloRomero20181026">{{Cite news |url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/10/26/1863327/enrile-apologizes-martial-law-victims-blames-unlucid-intervals |title=Enrile apologizes to Martial Law victims, blames 'unlucid intervals' |last=Romero |first=Paolo |date=October 26, 2018 |work=The [[Philippine Star]] |access-date=October 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181031115244/https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/10/26/1863327/enrile-apologizes-martial-law-victims-blames-unlucid-intervals |archive-date=October 31, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The arrest of others took place after midnight in the early morning hours of September 23. Martial law forces were sent out to arrest 400 individuals on their priority target list. By 1:00 am, Senator Jose W. Diokno had been arrested at his residence in Makati, as had poet-Senator Soc Rodrigo as of 2:00 a.m. that day. Vice President [[Fernando Lopez]], who had resigned from his cabinet positions in the Marcos administration after accusing Marcos of corruption and power-grabbing, was on the priority list but was overseas at the time of the declaration. Sergio Osmeña Jr., who had run against Marcos in the contentious election of 1969, was also abroad at the time and was not caught.<ref name="WolfgangSaxon19840326">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/26/obituaries/sergio-osmena-jr-is-dead-at-67-ran-against-marcos-in-69-vote.html |title=SERGIO OSMENA JR. IS DEAD AT 67; RAN AGAINST MARCOS IN '69 VOTE |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 26, 1984 |access-date=June 5, 2018 }}</ref> In their place, Lopez's nephew [[Eugenio Lopez Jr.]] and Osmeña's son [[Serge Osmeña|Sergio Osmeña III]] were arrested in what international media described as an act of extortion designed to undermine their families' financial empires.<ref name="JosephLelyveld19750422">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/22/archives/rich-family-loses-power-in-bitter-feud-with-marcos.html |title=Rich Family Loses Power in Bitter Feud With Marcos |last=Lelyveld |first=Joseph |date=April 22, 1975 |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 5, 2018 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
By the dawn of September 23, 100 of the 400 individuals on the list were in detention centers, with detainees including Senator Ramon Mitra, [[José Rizal University|JRU]] history teacher [[Etta Rosales]], University of the Philippines College of Social Work professor Flora Lansang, human rights lawyer [[Haydee Yorac]], ''[[Manila Times]]'' publisher Chino Roces, and a plethora of journalists. Student leaders were arrested regardless of whether their organizations were "radical" or "moderate".
Newspaper editors arrested that night included [[Amando Doronila]] of the ''Daily Mirror'', Luis Mauricio of the ''Philippine Graphic'', [[Teodoro Locsin Sr.]] of the ''[[Philippines Free Press|Philippine Free Press]]'', and Rolando Fadul of the vernacular broadsheet ''Taliba''. Also arrested were reporters Robert Ordoñez of the ''Philippine Herald'', Rosalinda Galang of the ''Manila Times''; columnists Ernesto Granada of the ''[[Manila Chronicle]]'' and [[Maximo Soliven]] of the ''Manila Times'', and [[Luis Beltran]] and Ruben Cusipag of the ''Evening News''.<ref name="GMAMLSidebar">{{Cite news |url=http://images.gmanews.tv/html/research/2007/11/martial_law.html |title=Martial Law |work=GMA News Online |access-date=June 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217031312/http://images.gmanews.tv/html/research/2007/11/martial_law.html |archive-date=February 17, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>
''Philippines Free Press'' associate editor [[Napoleon G. Rama|Napoleon Rama]] and ABS-CBN broadcaster Jose Mari Velez also happened to be delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, and were among the 11 outspoken convention delegates to be arrested. The others included [[Heherson Alvarez]], Alejandro Lichuaco, Voltaire Garcia, and [[Teofisto Guingona Jr.]]
=== Media lockdown ===
Marcos reacted with fear of deposition and immediately finalized [[Proclamation No. 1081]], which declared nationwide martial law at 8:00&nbsp;p.m. later that evening. One day before the proclamation, on September 22, 1972 at 8:00&nbsp;p.m., Defense Minister [[Juan Ponce Enrile]] was told to exit his white [[Mercedes-Benz]] sedan near Wack-Wack village.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Yamsuan|first=Cathy|title=Enrile on fake ambush: 'For real'|date=September 30, 2012 |url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/279806/enrile-on-fake-ambush-for-real|access-date=2020-10-01}}</ref> Another vehicle carrying gunmen arrived and stopped near an electrical post, right beside Enrile's vehicle. They then alighted from their vehicle and began to fire at the large sedan of Enrile to give an impression of a terrorist ambush, setting the stage for Marcos's theatrical television announcement.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Enrile's 'ambush': Real or not?|date=September 23, 2018 |url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/juan-ponce-enrile-versions-ambush-1972|access-date=2020-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Marcos and his men: Who were the key Martial Law figures?|date=September 21, 2020 |url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/marcos-martial-law-key-martial-figures|access-date=2020-10-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url = https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/ | title = Declaration of Martial Law}}</ref>
By the morning of September 23, 1972, martial law forces had successfully implemented a media lockdown, with only outlets associated with Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto allowed to operate. In the afternoon, Benedicto-owned television channel [[Radio Philippines Network|KBS-9]] went back on air playing episodes of [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s ''[[Wacky Races (1968 TV series)|Wacky Races]]'' cartoon series, which was interrupted at 3:00 PM, when Press Secretary [[Francisco Tatad]] went on air to read Proclamation No. 1081, through which Marcos declared martial law.<ref name="BooChanco">{{Cite news |url=https://www.philstar.com/business/2017/04/03/1683772/blame-messenger |title=Blame the messenger |last=Chanco |first=Boo |date=April 3, 2017 |work=The [[Philippine Star]] |access-date=September 9, 2018}}</ref> Ferdinand Marcos himself went on air at 7:17 that evening to formalize the announcement. On the following Morning, September 24, the headline of Benedicto's ''Daily Express'' announced "FM Declares Martial Law" – the only national newspaper to come out in the immediate aftermath of martial law.<ref name="KaiFrancisco20160922">{{Cite news |url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/146939-martial-law-explainer-victims-stories |title=Martial Law, the dark chapter in Philippine history |last=Francisco |first=Katerina |date=September 22, 2016 |work=Rappler |access-date=June 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923155126/https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/146939-martial-law-explainer-victims-stories |archive-date=September 23, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> (The Mindanao Tribune, which had not received notification of the media lockdown, had been able to put out an edition by the evening of September 23.)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morada Santiago|first=Irene|title=Turning rage into courage: Mindanao under martial law|publisher=MindaNews Publications, Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center|year=2002|editor-last=Arguillas|editor-first=Carolyn O.|location=Davao City|page=58|chapter=The last free paper|oclc=644320116}}</ref>
The declaration shut down 7 television stations, 16 national daily newspapers, 11 weekly magazines, 66 community newspapers, and 292 radio stations; as well as public utilities such as [[Meralco]], [[PLDT]], and airlines such as [[Philippine Airlines]] (later redesignated in 1973 by Marcos as the [[flag carrier]]), [[Air Manila]] and [[Filipinas Orient Airways]].<ref name="GazetteMLInfographic">{{cite web |url=http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph:80/featured/infographic-day-marcos-declared-martial-law-september-23-1972/ |title=Infographic: The day Marcos declared Martial Law |website=Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911040256/http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/infographic-day-marcos-declared-martial-law-september-23-1972/ |archive-date=September 11, 2017  |access-date=October 26, 2018 }}</ref>
== Impact of martial law on the 1971 Constitutional Convention ==
{{main|Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971}}
Marcos's September 1972 proclamation of martial law had major repercussions for the [[Philippine Constitutional Convention, 1971|1971 Constitutional Convention]]. Marcos arrested the leadership of the "opposition bloc" of the convention, who wanted to make sure that Marcos would not stay in power longer than the two terms allowed him under the 1935 constitution. Eventually, a group of Marcos-supporting delegates led by Gilberto Duavit came up with an entirely new draft of the constitution, which they submitted to Malacañang for ratification only two months after the proclamation of martial law.<ref name="PCIJ20060501">{{Cite news |url=http://pcij.org/stories/in-1971-and-2006-new-charters-designed-to-keep-embattled-presidents-in-power/ |title=In 1971 and 2006, new Charters designed to keep embattled presidents in power |date=May 1, 2006 |work=Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Website |access-date=July 25, 2018 |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725122900/http://pcij.org/stories/in-1971-and-2006-new-charters-designed-to-keep-embattled-presidents-in-power/  }}</ref>
=== Arrested delegates and detention of Aquino and Diokno===
The work of the convention was affected by the declaration of martial law in September 1972 by President [[Ferdinand Marcos]]; the military units assigned to implement martial law were given a list of 400 individuals to arrest, consisting mostly of outspoken critics of Ferdinand Marcos's administration. This included a number of members of the Constitutional Convention.<ref name="Kasaysayan9ch10">{{Cite book |title=Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People Volume 9:A Nation Reborn |publisher=Asia Publishing Company Limited |year=1998 |editor-last=Magno |editor-first=Alexander R. |location=Hong Kong |chapter=Democracy at the Crossroads}}</ref>
Some of the individuals on the list, such as [[Raul Manglapus]],<ref name="MartinWeil1990726">{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/07/26/raul-s-manglapus-former-foreign-secretary-of-philippines-dies-at-80/5f096154-7dec-4197-9ebb-44acd385ded4/ |title=Raul S. Manglapus, Former Foreign Secretary of Philippines, Dies at 80 |last=Weil |first=Martin |date=July 26, 1999 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=July 25, 2018 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> were not in the Philippines when martial law was declared, while some, such as [[Raul Roco]], were in the country but managed to evade arrest.
However, numerous members of the Constitutional Convention's opposition bloc were among those arrested in the early hours of September 22, 1972.<ref name="Kasaysayan9ch10"/>{{rp|page="157"}} Convention members arrested included Antonio Araneta, [[Jose Concepcion]], Voltaire Garcia, [[Bren Guiao]], [[Teofisto Guingona Jr.]], Alejandro Lichuaco, [[Jose Nolledo]], ''Philippines Free Press'' associate editor [[Napoleon Rama]], and [[ABS-CBN]] broadcaster [[Jose Mari Velez]].<ref name="BicolMail20170727">{{Cite news |url=https://www.bicolmail.net/single-post/2017/07/27/EDITORIAL-The-intrepid-18-two-times-over |title=The intrepid 18, two times over |date=July 27, 2017 |work=Bicol Mail |access-date=July 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180722180609/https://www.bicolmail.net/single-post/2017/07/27/EDITORIAL-The-intrepid-18-two-times-over |archive-date=July 22, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Duka2008">{{Cite book |title=Struggle for freedom: a textbook on Philippine history |last=Duka |first=Cecilio D. |date=2008 |publisher=Rex Book Store |isbn=978-971-23-5045-0 |edition= 1st |location=Manila |oclc=958017661}}</ref><ref name="PCIJ20060501"/>
With nearly a dozen of its members in jail and some of its most prominent leaders overseas or in hiding, the "progressive faction" of the convention that spoke against Marcos was no longer able to contribute to the discussion.<ref name="Kasaysayan9ch10"/>
Diokno and Aquino, whom the dictatorship considered their foremost opponents, were later handcuffed, blindfolded, and transferred to [[Fort Magsaysay]] in [[Laur, Nueva Ecija]] in March 1973. They were placed in solitary confinement for 30 days after an article by Aquino published in the [[Bangkok Post]] further revealed abuses under martial law. Marcos accused Diokno and Aquino for this article as it was printed while both were in prison at [[Fort Bonifacio]]. Aquino and Diokno were kept in solitary in the enclosed and air-sealed ''Alpha'' and ''Delta'' rooms. Aquino spent his days counting through chalk on the wall, while Diokno counted using the knots of ropes from his [[mosquito net]] as well as the back of a soap packaging box and crossed out each day in the manner of a calendar.<ref name="laur">{{Cite web|title=Speech of President Aquino at the inauguration of the Aquino-Diokno Memorial, September 21, 2012 (English)|url=https://mirror.officialgazette.gov.ph/2012/09/21/speech-of-president-aquino-at-the-inauguration-of-the-aquino-diokno-memorial-september-21-2012-english/|date=September 21, 2012}}</ref>
They both learned of each other's presence through singing. One of them would frequently sing [[Lupang Hinirang|the national anthem ''Lupang Hinirang'']] or "Chosen Land", to which the other would reply by singing ''[[Bayan Ko]]'' or "My Country" to prove he was still alive.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cupin|first=Bea|title=#EDSA30: Remembering Alpha and Delta|url=https://www.rappler.com/nation/ninoy-aquino-fort-magsaysay|date=2016-02-25}}</ref> Their visiting family members were often strip-searched by soldiers. Diokno's wife Carmen would sneak in books in French and Spanish for him to read. Diokno and his wife talked in Spanish to keep the guards from eavesdropping on their conversation. Diokno would tell his family not to weep in front of the sadistic soldiers. Only his Aunt Paz Wilson, a woman in her 90s and a mother figure since his mother's passing, would frequently cry during every visit. She continued to visit despite also undergoing strip searches. The family would be in tears once they left the prison, where the [[Aquino family]] would see them. This helped the Aquinos prepare themselves emotionally since they never saw the Diokno family manifest much pain before. ''Nena'' Diokno, suspicious of Marcos, took most of her husband's books at the library along [[Del Pilar Street]] and brought them home before the military burned down the library. Jose would thank her as he was very familiar with the library and memorized the location of each shelf and book he read.<ref>{{Cite news |url = https://www.philstar.com/other-sections/starweek-magazine/2011/06/12/695148/mariz-diokno-remembers-two-joses | title = Mariz Diokno remembers two Joses}}</ref> Aquino and Diokno could not keep glasses or pipes, and Diokno needed to request his rosary from time to time. After enduring 30 days they were transferred back to Fort Bonifacio. Diokno was released on September 11, 1974, Marcos's birthday, while Aquino would leave for the United States in 1980.<ref name="laur" />
=== Rushed approval ===
The convention moved quickly after Marcos had declared martial law. The opposition bloc had effectively been decimated and the threat of imprisonment hung over any delegates who might voice opposition in the convention. The regular rules of the convention were suspended and a 166-member group headed by Marcos-supporting Delegate Gilberto Duavit came up with a new draft of the constitution. By November 29, 1972 – a little over two months after the declaration of martial law – the convention approved the draft, which was presented to Marcos in Malacañang Palace on December 1, 1972.<ref name="PCIJ20060501"/>
== Rise of the Moro National Liberation Front ==
{{main|Moro conflict|Moro National Liberation Front}}
Sparked by revelations about the 1968 [[Jabidah massacre]], tensions had been rising between the Marcos administration and the Moro peoples of Mindanao. Soon after [[Jibin Arula]] told the story of the Massacre story to the press, and Senate investigations suggested the involvement of the president,<ref name="TessVitug20130318">{{cite news|url=http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/24025-jabidah-massacre-merdeka-sabah|title=Jabidah and Merdeka: The inside story|author1=Marites Dañguilan Vitug|author2=Glenda M. Gloria|work=[[Rappler]]|date=March 18, 2013|access-date=September 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913010948/http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/24025-jabidah-massacre-merdeka-sabah|archive-date=September 13, 2015}}</ref> Lanao del Sur congressman Rashid Lucman called for Marcos's Impeachment.<ref name="LucmanProfile">{{cite web |url=http://www.bantayog.org/lucman-haroun-al-rashid/ |title=Martyrs & Heroes: LUCMAN, Haroun Al Rashid |date=May 26, 2016 |website=Bantayog ng mga Bayani |language=en-US |access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref> When the bid failed, he eventually founded the [[Bangsamoro Liberation Organization]] (BMLO), which initially called for Moro Independence, although it eventually shifted its positions and called for regional autonomy.<ref name="LucmanProfile"/> Former Cotabato governor Datu Udtog Matalam likewise formed of the [[Muslim Independence Movement]] (MIM), which also called for Moro Independence.<ref name="RevoltinMindanao:">{{Cite book|title = Revolt in Mindanao: The Rise of Islam in Philippine Politics|last = George|first = T. J. S.|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 1980|pages = 130–134}}</ref> Neither group, however, drew enough followers to form a viable opposition until Marcos declared Martial Law. The BMLO remained small, while the MIM was dissolved when Matalam accepted a government post under Marcos.<ref name="BetweenIntegrationandSecession">{{Cite book|title = Between Integration and Secession: The Muslim Communities of the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand and Western Burma/Myanmar|last = Yegar|first = Moshe|publisher = Lexington Books|year = 2002|pages = 267–268}}</ref>
With the declaration of Martial Law, on October 21, 1972, political parties, including the BMLO and the MIM, were dissolved.<ref name="Stanford">{{cite web |url=https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/379 |title=Moro National Liberation Front |website=Stanford University Mapping Militants Project |access-date=March 8, 2019}}</ref> So when former MIM member [[Nur Misuari]] formed an armed secessionist group called the [[Moro National Liberation Front]], he was quickly able to consolidate power.<ref name="Stanford"/> The MNLF became the single dominant voice calling for Moro independence, and was able to raise a significant armed force. The Philippines' decades-long [[Moro conflict]] had begun in earnest.<ref name="Stanford"/>
=== Scale of abuses ===
Marcos's 14 years as dictator is historically remembered for its record of human rights abuses,<ref name="McCoy199909202">{{cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54a/062.html|title=Alfred McCoy, Dark Legacy: Human rights under the Marcos regime|date=September 20, 1999|publisher=[[Ateneo de Manila University]]}}</ref><ref name="Abinales&Amoroso20052" /> particularly targeting political opponents, student activists,<ref name="Rappler"/> journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. Based on the documentation of [[Amnesty International]], [[Task Force Detainees of the Philippines]], and similar human rights monitoring entities,<ref name="RachelAGReyes201604122" /> historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings,<ref name="RachelAGReyes201604122" /> 35,000 documented tortures, 737 [[forced disappearance]]s,<ref name="RachelAGReyes201604122" />  and 70,000 incarcerations.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/019/1977/en/|title=REPORT OF AN AI MISSION TO THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 1975}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite book|title=Marcos Martial Law: Never Again|last=Robles|first=Raissa|publisher=FILIPINOS FOR A BETTER PHILIPPINES, INC|year=2016}}</ref>
Some 2,520 of the 3,257 murder victims were tortured and mutilated before their bodies were dumped in various places for the public to discover – a tactic meant to sow fear among the public,<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":22">{{Cite book|title=Policing America's empire: the United States, the Philippines, and the rise of the surveillance state|last=W.|first=McCoy, Alfred|date=2009|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-23413-3|location=Madison, Wis.|oclc=550642875}}</ref> which came to be known as "salvaging".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.postguam.com/forum/featured_columnists/salvage-victims/article_1ca514a4-1812-11e6-900a-8304df53116c.html|title='Salvage' victims|last=Cagurangan|first=Mar-Vic|work=The Guam Daily Post|access-date=June 24, 2018}}</ref> Some bodies were even cannibalized.<ref name=":52">{{Citation|last=Mila D. Aguilar|title=So Why Samar?|date=October 3, 2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6vw6rFaabA&t=1374s|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref>
=== International pressure, and knowledge of abuses by Marcos ===
The international community eventually got word of these human rights violations and applied pressure to the Marcos administration to end them. In 1975, Marcos aide and chief propagandist Primitivo Mijares defected from the Marcos administration and revealed in front of US lawmakers that torture was routinely practiced within the Marcos regime.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos| last=Primitivo| first=Mijares| isbn=978-1-5232-9219-6| edition= 1976| location=[United States]| oclc=971061147|date = January 17, 2016}}</ref> Mijares' admission attracted international criticism, particularly from [[Amnesty International]] and Washington. Amnesty International's first report about the Philippines in December 1975 revealed the "systematic and severe torture" handled by the Fifth Constabulary Security Unit (5CSU).<ref name=":0"/><ref name=":22"/> Amnesty International found convincing evidence of widespread torture among prisoners, enabled by Marcos's suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the absence of judicial oversight.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/30/archives/philippines-torture.html|title=Philippines Torture|last=Laber|first=Jeri|newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 30, 1976 |access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref> Evidence reveals that not only was he aware of tortures and murders enacted by his military and police force, but that he condoned and at times arranged for it.<ref name="Robles2016" /> This caused tensions between the United States and the Philippines, pressuring Marcos to admit human rights violations during his regime.<ref name=":22"/>
Marcos initially denied knowledge of human rights violations.<ref name="Robles2016" /> In 1974, he proclaimed in a televised address that "No one, but no one was tortured".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2016/04/13/1572696/never-again|title=Never again {{!}} Philstar.com|website=philstar.com|access-date=June 18, 2018}}</ref> But he eventually confessed at the 1977 World Peace through law Conference in Manila that "there have been, to our lasting regret, a number of violations of the rights of detainees".<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90CxOwAACAAJ|title=Pumipiglas: Political Detention and Military Atrocities in the Philippines, 1981–1982|date=1986|publisher=Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines}}</ref>
==Economy==
{{main|Economic history of the Philippines (1965–1986)}}
Philippine economic history from Marcos's declaration of Martial Law to his ouster through the 1986 People Power Revolution was a period of significant economic highs and lows.<ref name="Galang20110221">{{Cite web |url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/content/172779/martial-law-costly-lessons-in-economic-development/story/ |title=Martial law: Costly lessons in economic development &#124; Money &#124; GMA News Online |date=September 21, 2009 |access-date=November 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103210343/http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/money/content/172779/martial-law-costly-lessons-in-economic-development/story/ |archive-date=November 3, 2018  }}</ref><ref name="EJGuido&CheDeLosReyes20170921">{{Citation | last1 = Guido | first1 =Edson Joseph | last2 = de los Reyes | first2 = Che | title = The best of times? Data debunk Marcos's economic 'golden years' | newspaper =ABSCBN News and Public Affairs | year = 2017 | url = https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/21/17/the-best-of-times-data-debunk-marcoss-economic-golden-years }}</ref><ref name="JCPunongbayan20170911">{{cite news | last =Punongbayan | first =JC | title =Marcos plundered to 'protect' the economy? Makes no economic sense | newspaper =Rappler | location = Ortigas Center, Pasig | date =September 11, 2017 | url = https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/181743-ferdinand-marcos-plunder-philippine-economy-no-economic-sense }}</ref><ref name="Kasaysayan9ch10" /><ref name="USLCCountrystudiesPh57">{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/philippines/57.htm |title=Martial Law and its Aftermath |series=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]: Philippines |publisher=US Library of Congress |access-date=October 27, 2018}}</ref>
The September 1972 declaration of Martial Law coincided with an increased global demand for raw materials, including coconut and sugar,<ref name="USLCCountrystudiesPh57"/><ref name="EJGuido&CheDeLosReyes20170921"/> and the increase in global market prices for these commodities. This "commodities boom" allowed GDP growth to peak at nearly 9 percent in the years immediately after the declaration – in 1973 and 1976.<ref name="EJGuido&CheDeLosReyes20170921"/> The Philippine's Gross Domestic Product quadrupled from $8 billion in 1972 to $32.45 billion in 1980, for an inflation-adjusted average growth rate of 6% per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=PH|title=GDP (current US$) – Data}}</ref>
The commodities boom continued throughout most of the 70s, only slowing down towards the early 1980s when it left the Philippine economy vulnerable to the instability of the international capital market.<ref name="EJGuido&CheDeLosReyes20170921"/> As a result, the economy grew amidst the two severe global oil shocks following the [[1973 oil crisis]] and [[1979 energy crisis]] – [[price of oil|oil price]] was $3 / barrel in 1973 and $39.5 in 1979, or a growth of 1200% which drove inflation.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}
The Heritage Foundation pointed that when the economy began to weaken in 1979, the government did not adopt anti-recessionist policies and instead launched risky and costly industrial projects.<ref name=heritage1>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1984/05/the-roots-of-the-philippines-economic-troubles|title=The Roots of the Philippines' Economic Troubles}}</ref> The overall economy experienced a slower growth GDP per capita, lower wage conditions and higher unemployment especially towards the end of Marcos's term after the 1983–1984 recession. The Philippine peso devalued sharply from 3.9 to 20.53. The recession was triggered largely by political instability following Ninoy's assassination,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1984/05/the-roots-of-the-philippines-economic-troubles|title=The Roots of the Philippines' Economic Troubles|first=Edward|last=L.|website=The Heritage Foundation}}</ref> high global interest rates,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fedprimerate.com/wall_street_journal_prime_rate_history.htm|title=United States Prime Rate History|website=www.fedprimerate.com}}</ref> [[Early 1980s recession|severe global economic recession]], and [[1979 energy crisis|significant increase in global oil price]], the latter three of which affected all indebted countries in [[Latin American debt crisis|Latin America]], Europe, and Asia. The Philippines was among these countries and was not exempted from the negative economic consequences.<ref>{{cite book|last=James K. Galbraith|title=The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too|publisher=Simon and Schuster|url=https://archive.org/details/predatorstatehow00galb|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/predatorstatehow00galb/page/75 75]|isbn=978-1-4165-6683-0|date=August 5, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Michael Mussa|title=C. Fred Bergsten and the World Economy, Volume 978, Issues 397-399|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNYcJTWjSosC&pg=PA244|isbn=978-0-88132-397-9|year=2006|publisher=Peterson Institute }}</ref>
Despite the 1984–1985 recession, GDP on a per capita basis more than tripled from $175.9 in 1965 to $565.8 in 1985 at the end of Marcos's term, though this averages less than 1.2% a year when adjusted for inflation.<ref name="data.worldbank.org">{{cite web|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=PH&page=6|title=GDP per capita (current US$) – Data|website=data.worldbank.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=PH|title=GDP (current US$) – Data|website=data.worldbank.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nber.org/chapters/c9047.pdf |title=Introduction to "Developing Country Debt and Economic Performance, Volume 3: Country Studies – Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Turkey" |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref>
The period is sometimes erroneously described as a golden age for the country's economy.<ref name="Punongbayan&Mandrilla20160305" /><ref name="KaterinaFrancisco20160922">{{Cite news|url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/146939-martial-law-explainer-victims-stories|title=Martial Law, the dark chapter in Philippine history|last=Francisco|first=Katerina|date=September 22, 2016|work=Rappler|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> However, by the period's end, the country was experiencing a debt crisis, extreme poverty, and severe underemployment.<ref name="Punongbayan&Mandrilla20160305">{{Cite news|url=https://www.rappler.com/views/imho/124682-marcos-economy-golden-age-philippines|title=Marcos years marked 'golden age' of PH economy? Look at the data|last=Punongbayan and Mandrilla|date=March 5, 2016|work=Rappler|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="EmmanueldeDios20151116">{{cite web|url=http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=the-truth-about-the-economy-under-the-marcos-regime&id=118661|title=The truth about the economy under the Marcos regime|last=de Dios|first=Emmanuel S.|date=November 16, 2015|website=Business World|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref> On the island of [[Negros Island|Negros]], one-fifth of the children under six were seriously malnourished.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/healthandwellness/274389/masagana-99-nutribun-and-imelda-s-edifice-complex-of-hospitals/story/|title=Masagana 99, Nutribun, and Imelda's 'edifice complex' of hospitals|date=September 20, 2012|work=GMA News Online|access-date=May 14, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-02-15-op-3420-story.html|title=On Negros, Sugar and Famine, Prawns and Hope|last=Scott|first=Michael F.|date=February 15, 1987|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 14, 2018|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>
=== Rise in poverty incidence ===
Poverty incidence grew from 41% in the 1960s at the time Marcos took the presidency to 59% when he was removed from power.<ref name=nberc9047 /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/123773-marcos-economic-disaster|title=Ferdinand Marcos' economic disaster|date=February 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Mangahas |first=Mahar |date=December 1999 |title=Monitoring Philippine Poverty By Operational and Sociatal Indicators |url=https://www.econ.upd.edu.ph/pre/index.php/pre/article/view/75 |journal=Philippine Review of Economics and Business |volume=36 |issue=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.rappler.com/views/imho/124682-marcos-economy-golden-age-philippines|work = Rappler| title=Marcos Economy Golden Age of PH? Look at the Data}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.philstar.com/letters-editor/660957/dismal-record-marcos-regime|title=The dismal record of the Marcos regime|newspaper=Philippine Star}}</ref><ref name="USLCCountrystudiesPh57" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fdc.ph/programs/debt-and-public-finance/news-on-debt-and-public-finance/65-the-marcos-legacy-of-fraudulent-and-illegitimate-debts|title=The Marcos legacy of fraudulent and illegitimate debts|publisher=Freedom from debt coalition|access-date=September 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921230506/https://fdc.ph/programs/debt-and-public-finance/news-on-debt-and-public-finance/65-the-marcos-legacy-of-fraudulent-and-illegitimate-debts|archive-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref>
=== Rise in debt ===
The Philippines had a cautious borrowing policy as late as the early 1970s, but the Marcos administration borrowed a massive amount of foreign debt in the early 1980s amid high oil prices, high interest rates, capital flight, and falling export prices of sugar and coconut.<ref name=nberc9047>{{cite book |title=Introduction to "The Marcos Legacy: Economic Policy and Foreign Debt in the Philippines"
|publisher=National Bureau of Economic Research |date=1989| url=https://www.nber.org/chapters/c9047.pdf}}</ref> The country's total external debt rose from US$2.3 billion in 1970 to US$26.2 billion in 1985.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Along with corruption and plunder of public funds by Marcos and his cronies, this held the country under a debt-servicing crisis which is expected to be fixed by only 2025.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}
== Suppression of journalism ==
{{Main|Journalism during the Marcos dictatorship}}
The shutdown of media and the mass arrests of publishers and journalists on the eve of the 1972 Martial Law declaration effectively silenced the Philippine culture of press freedom for several years. It also had a chilling effect on news coverage all the way until Marcos was deposed and exiled in 1986, despite the Marcos administration loosening press restrictions in light of international pressure, and despite the technical lifting of Martial Law in 1981.<ref name="LourdesMolinaFernandez20070126">{{Cite web |url=https://cmfr-phil.org/media-ethics-responsibility/ethics/heroes-of-press-freedomjose-burgos-jr-a-timeless-hero/ |title=Heroes of Press Freedom: Jose Burgos Jr. - A Timeless Hero |last=Fernandez |first=Lourdes Molina  |date=2007-01-26 |website=Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility |access-date=2019-01-28}}</ref>
The few publications who dared to criticize Marcos, such as the [[WE Forum]] and [[Ang Pahayagang Malaya]], came to collectively be referred to "the mosquito press," since they became a minor but persistent irritation to the dictatorship.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1GzDDwAAQBAJ&dq=mosquito+press+signs+of+the+times&pg=PA89|title=Filipino American Transnational Activism: Diasporic Politics among the Second Generation|date=December 9, 2019|publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-41455-6}}</ref>
Key turning points in the history of Philippine journalism during this time included:<ref name="LourdesMolinaFernandez20070126"/> the establishment of WE Forum in 1977 and of Ang Pahayagang Malaya in 1981; the landmark coverage the murder of [[Macli-ing Dulag]], a leader of [[Indigenous people's resistance against the Marcos dictatorship|indigenous opposition]] to the [[Chico River Dam Project]];<ref name="Aureus1985PressUnderSiege">{{Cite book |title=The Philippine Press Under Siege II |year=1985 |editor-last=Aureus |editor-first=Leonor J.}}</ref> the 1982 [[Military career of Ferdinand Marcos|expose of Ferdinand Marcos's fake military medals]] which led to the closure of WE Forum and the jailing of its prominent columnists;<ref name="LourdesMolinaFernandez20070126"/>  and the 1984 murder of leading [[Mindanao]] journalist [[Alex Orcullo]] in [[Davao City]].<ref name="MiclatinArguillas">{{Cite book |last=Miclat |first=Gus |title=Turning rage into courage: Mindanao under martial law |date=2002 |publisher=MindaNews Publications, Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center |editor-last=Arguillas |editor-first=Carolyn O. |chapter=Our lives were never the same again |oclc=644320116}}</ref>
== Proclamation No. 2045 ==
On January 17, 1981, Marcos issued Proclamation No. 2045, which formally lifted the proclamation of martial law, but retained many of his powers. The lifting was timed to coincide with Pope John Paul II's visit to the Philippines and with the inauguration of new U.S. president and Marcos ally [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name="Celoza1997 2"/> Reacting to the announcement, former president [[Diosdado Macapagal]], who at the time was the leading member of the [[United Nationalist Democratic Organization]], said that the lifting of martial law after eight years was "in name only, but not in fact". Marcos reacted to criticism by telling the national assembly, "The opposition members want only to save their individual skins against national interests."<ref name="news.google.com"/>
Amendment No. 6 to the new 1973 constitution allowed him to continue making laws, and the decrees issued during martial law were carried forward after the lifting of Proclamation No. 1081. He also retained the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus for "crimes related to subversion, insurrection, rebellion, and also conspiracy to commit such crimes."<ref name="Celoza1997 2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sp3U1oCNKlgC&q=pope+john+paul+ii+martial+law+marcos&pg=PA73|title=Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: The Political Economy of Authoritarianism|last=Celoza|first=Albert F.|date=1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-94137-6}}</ref>
Human rights abuses continued.<ref name=":6"/>
== 1986 People Power Revolution and exile of the Marcos family ==
{{main|People Power Revolution}}
{{see also|Marcos dynasty}}
Increasing unrest springing from the economic collapse of the Philippines in the years after the [[Assassination of Ninoy Aquino|assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino]] in 1983 came to a head in February 1986, when the EDSA People Power Revolution succeeded in unseating the Marcoses from Malacañang Palace.<ref name="StuartSantiago1995">{{Cite book |title=Duet for EDSA: Chronology of a Revolution |date=1995 |publisher=Foundation for Worldwide People Power |isbn=978-971-91670-0-6 |location=Manila, Philippines |oclc=45376088}}</ref>
Fearful of a scenario in which Marcos's presence in the Philippines would lead to a civil war,<ref name="StuartSantiago1995"/> the Reagan administration flew Marcos and a party of about 80 individuals<ref name="DavidHolley19860228">{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-28-mn-12789-story.html |title=Speculation Grows: Marcos May Stay at Luxurious Hawaii Estate |last=HOLLEY |first=DAVID |date=February 28, 1986 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921074524/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-02-28/news/mn-12789_1_marcos-estate |archive-date=September 21, 2015 |url-status=live |issn=0458-3035}}</ref> – the extended Marcos family and a number of close associates<ref name="APmanifest19860311">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/11/world/the-marcos-party-in-honolulu.html |title=The Marcos Party In Honolulu |work=The New York Times |date=March 11, 1986 |access-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524190421/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/11/world/the-marcos-party-in-honolulu.html |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |url-status=live |agency=[[Associated Press]] }}</ref> – from the Philippines to Hawaii despite Marcos's objections.<ref name="StuartSantiago1995"/><ref name="DavidHolley19860227">{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-27-mn-12084-story.html |title=Marcos Party Reaches Hawaii in Somber Mood |last=HOLLEY |first=DAVID |date=February 27, 1986 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022202056/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-02-27/news/mn-12084_1_imelda-marcos |archive-date=October 22, 2015 |url-status=live |issn=0458-3035}}</ref>
The exiles stayed at [[Hickam Air Force Base]] at the expense of the U.S. government. A month later, they moved into a pair of residences in [[Makiki Heights]], [[Honolulu]], which were registered to [[Marcos cronies]] [[Antonio Floirendo]] and Bienvenido and Gliceria Tantoco.<ref name="DavidHolley19860228"/>
Marcos would eventually die in exile in 1989.<ref name="Richburg&Branigin19890929">{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/09/29/ferdinand-marcos-dies-in-hawaii-at-72/d1c26275-d9bd-4bfd-8934-c2a02ff4ab51/ |title=FERDINAND MARCOS DIES IN HAWAII AT 72 |last1=Richburg |first1=Keith B. |date=September 29, 1989 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=August 16, 2018 |last2=Branigin |first2=William |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
President Corazon Aquino eventually allowed the remaining members of the Marcos family to return to the Philippines to face various charges.<ref name="SethMydans19911104">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/04/world/imelda-marcos-returns-to-philippines.html |title=Imelda Marcos Returns to Philippines |last=Mydans |first=Seth |date=November 4, 1991 |work=The [[New York Times]] |access-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212102834/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/04/world/imelda-marcos-returns-to-philippines.html |archive-date=December 12, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> News reports from the period record that Marcos supporters organized crowd from Manila's slums to welcome the Marcoses on their return.<ref name="SethMydans19911104"/>
== See also ==
* [[Martial law in the Philippines]]
* [[History of the Philippines (1965–1986)]]
** [[Economic history of the Philippines (1965–1986)]]
* [[Proclamation No. 1081]]
* [[1972 Manila bombings]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{Martial EDSA}}
{{The Marcoses}}
[[Category:Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos| ]]
[[Category:1972 establishments in the Philippines]]
[[Category:1986 disestablishments in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Anti-communism in the Philippines]]
[[Category:Dictatorship]]
[[Category:Politicides]]
[[Category:Presidencies of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Ferdinand Marcos]]
[[Category:1970s in the Philippines]]
[[Category:1980s in the Philippines]]